Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard earned the best win of his career on Sunday, but he was made to work for it. The 6’7” Frenchman is known for his huge serve, but he was impressive on return and looked solid from the baseline as he stunned No. 5 seed Taylor Fritz 6-4 7-5.
It was another hot and humid day in Shanghai, with temperatures reaching around 33 degrees Celsius, and Fritz was visibly struggling as the match went on. But Mpetshi Perricard has now admitted that he also felt the heat and thought he was “dying” during one gruelling game.
The humidity in Shanghai has been a big talking point this week, and the conditions clearly took a toll on Fritz. At 5-5 in the second set, the American was feeling it and started doubling over to catch his breath.
The umpire even had to pause the shot clock after one bruisingly long, 28-shot rally, and an exhausted Fritz threw in a double fault as he battled through, eventually getting broken. But the world No. 5 wasn’t the only one struggling to get through that game.
Mpetshi Perricard was also seen crouching down to recover from some of the long rallies, and later said: “It was tough, to be honest. Tough conditions, very humid, a lot of humidity.
“So the game at 5-5, it was terrible. I thought I was dying on the court. I mean, I try to stay steady on the ball and to put one more ball, one more, one more, and try to win the point. I mean, it was tough consecutive points, so I’m very happy to stand now on my both feet.”
It was a landmark victory for Mpetshi Perricard for two reasons. The French star had previously never beaten a top-10 player before, coming into the match with a 0-6 record. And he’s also through to the fourth round of a Masters 1000 tournament for the first time.
The world No. 37 added: “Yeah, I’m feeling great. It was a good feeling to finally break through this tough wall against a top 10. Yeah, it was a good match, I can be proud of myself.
“But at the end of the day, the tournaments are going on, another match, a good one in another 48 hours, so I’m going to try to improve some things I cannot do on this match.”
After suffering an early exit in Shanghai, Fritz will enjoy a well-deserved break before heading to the Six Kings Slam exhibition in Saudi Arabia, and then turning his attention to the European indoor swing.
Fritz has been playing a lot of tennis of late. After representing Team World at the Laver Cup in September, he jetted to Tokyo for the Japan Open and finished runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz.
The world No. 5 then played his opening match in Shanghai just three days later, coming from behind to beat Fabian Marozsan 2-6 7-6 7-6 and calling out the slow court speed, before losing to Mpetshi Perricard on Sunday.